Open Access Week

Open Access (OA) scholarship is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OA publishing shifts the costs of content creation and distribution away from subscribers, so that OA scholarship is freely available to anyone worldwide with an internet connection - no subscription necessary. Open Access Week is a global event celebrating the benefits of free, immediate access to scholarship produced by the research community.

Rice library hosts events to promote research, inspire, explore, and connect the USI community on issues associated with research and learning.

Contact Peter Whiting, Scholarly Communication Librarian, for any questions that you have.

Elevate Visibility and Reputation - USI's Strategic Plan, 2021-2026

Featured USI faculty, staff and student open access scholarship in SOAR (Scholarly Open Access Repository)

Gilles, Erin E. (2024). "Social Workers Should Be Required to Watch this Episode": Social Media Perceptions of Television Portrayals of Fictional CPS Workers.

Todd, Susan (2025). Career Self Discovery Assessment. 

• No advanced registration!  All workshops are in the Central Time Zone.
• Contact Peter Whiting, Scholarly Communication Librarian, pwhiting@usi.edu 
• Workshops are thirty minutes with a short presentation and time for discussion.

September 2025

Scholarly Communication 101

• Tuesday, September 16 at 12:00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Learn and explore all the Rice library scholarly communication services and resources available including SOAR (Scholarly Open Access Repository) and Open Access Funding and Review.

Affordable Textbooks: Open Educational Resources (OER)

• Monday, September 22 at 12:00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Open Educational Resources (OER), including the USI OER stipends will be shared.

October 2025

Scholarly Communication 101

• Wednesday, October 8 at 12:00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Zoom link
• Learn and explore all the scholarly communication resources and services.

International Open Access Week. October 20-26, 2025

Who Owns Our Knowledge?

Scholarly Communication Trends

• Monday, October 20 at 12:00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Zoom link 
• Learn and explore the current scholarly publishing trends.

Outdated Notions of Scholarly Communication

• Tuesday, October 21 at 12:00 pm noon -12:30 pm
• Zoom Link
• Learn and explore the modern scholarly communication resources including Open Educational Resources (OER) and more!

Open Access Rice Library information table

• Wednesday, October 22 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Location: University West table near the food court and campus store.
• Open Access swag and conversations about Open Access.

Your Scholarly Digital Profile 

• Thursday, October 23 at 12;00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Zoom link 
• Creating a digital profile including the ORCiD and SOAR (Scholarly Open Access Repository) Author Profile.

November 2025

Copyright 101

• Wednesday, November 5 at 12:00 pm noon - 12:30 pm
• Zoom link
• Learn and explore copyright basics and the Creative Commons Licenses.

Need more information or missed a Rice Library Workshop? Contact Peter Whiting, Scholarly Communication Librarian.